Assistance Strategy Model of Semarang Batik SMEs
*Agus Prasetyo Utomo
** Endang Tjahjaningsih
***Dewi Handayani UN
Abstract
Semarang Batik business is one form of creative industries. To build creative industry, it requires continuous innovation by producing creative products through creative ideas. Marketing, raw materials and Semarang Batik workers limited to small and medium enterprises of Semarang Batik in Semarang city make the small and medium enterprises not able to develop well when compared with the Semarang Batik industries in other areas. Semarang Batik in Central Java is still in embryo position in which most craftsmen are still small and medium enterprises and have just started to grow. To grow to a higher position, it requires a strategy that is able to synergize the stakeholders in the clusters of Semarang Batik. The aims of the study were to analyze the profiles of the small and medium enterprises of Semarang Batik in Semarang and the strategies to develop the small and medium enterprises of Semarang Batik in Semarang. In addition, to position Semarang Batik to be better known by the public, it requires a strategic approach of assistance and empowerment of Semarang Batik craftsmen, namely,developing specific creative techniqueexcellence in the form of production model, production equipment, and cost efficiency which can produce the products that have uniqueness and able to compete with other products; Using the approach of entrepreneurial marketing and products as well as innovative processes in coaching and assisting Semarang Batik craftsmen had the purpose to make them have specific uniquenessby developing appropriate marketing strategies; Cybermarketing use strategy is one of the innovations of information and communication technologies in the development of small and medium enterprises in the form of portals that can accommodate promotion, publication, and online marketingactivities.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing, Cyber Marketing, Small-Medium Enterprises,Semarang Batik, Assistance, Empowerment, Creative Technique
* &*** Faculty of Information Technology, Stikubank University, Semarang, Central Java, Republic Indonesia.
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** Faculty of economic and business, Stikubank University, Semarang, Central Java, Republic of Indonesia.
E-mail:
The ability of SMEs to survive in competitive market is highly determined by high local content in their production processes to produce the products with unique and distinct particular that would be the added value of the products to make them more competitive in the market.Therefore,a lot of products from small and medium enterpriseses are able to penetrate the market. A good entrepreneur must be able to see and respond with discernmently and effectively on Customer Value so that they can create a strategy to achieve the Customer Value well and constantly. In other hand, if small and medium enterprises can not make a product or service that has a specific and are not able to respond to market well, they are only able to rely on local market and domestic demand. Thus, their ability to make new breakthroughs in product development is weak and they are quite satisfied with what they have obtained.
Therefore, before recognizing customer value, if an entrepreneur want to build a small and medium enterprise, he should pay attention to the attitudes of entrepreneurship and early processes in making a new business. The attention could bring an innovation, whether product innovation or production process innovation, that can be the advantage when competing. However, it will be a useless effort if it is not communicated to the public. Therefore, companies also have to market their products or services by the marketing activities which are suitable with small and medium-scale enterprises. Small and medium enterprises need to understand and perform entrepreneurial marketing approach so that they are able to create and market their products or services with specific advantages in order to compete in the marketplace. Entrepreneurial Marketing is a marketing technique adjusted to small and medium-scale enterprises which consists of several stages. The initial stage is the determination of segmentation, targeting, and positioning to determine which customers are going to serve as the marketing goals, and then followed by the determination of the product to be sold. Once the product is determined, the next stage is to set pricing strategy tailored to the target market and can provide the power to attract consumers, and then communicate the existence of a company by public relation activities.
Semarang hand-writing batik as a result of Indonesianhas won the recognition from UNESCO since many concrete steps had been taken to protect and preserve Semarang batik hereditarily by the government and Indonesian people. However, the existence of such recognition may be revoked when we cannot preserve it. By the traces of Batik history in Semarang, according to Pepin Van Roojen, he found some kinds of batik from Semarang as written in his book entitled Semarang Batik Design. There were sarong fabrics made in the late 19th century in Semarang. The sarong has thepapan and tumpal with the ornaments such as bhuta or a kind of needles pine leaves from Kashmir (Roojen, Pepin Van, 1995).
Semarang Batik is one of coastal batiks. The term of coastal batik is actually derived from the Dutch colonial era that makes the grouping of batik at the time into Solo and Yogyakarta Batik and coastal batik. Coastal batik is the batik made out of Solo and Yogyakarta, precisely in the area of the northern coast of Jawa. The motif of coastal batiks is more natural whichmostly describes the flora and fauna as well as regional legends, freer and more diverse in colors due to foreign cultural influences. The main motif of coastal batik is heavily influenced by Chinese culturesalong with the history of the arrival of Chinese traders to the northern coast of Java island. In addition, it was also influenced by the emergence of Islam in the 16thcentury. The peak progress of coastal batik occurred around the 19th century when the Indo-Dutch businessmen who played the important roles in batik business were present.
Batik industry is one of creative industries. To build creative industries, continuous innovations that can generate creative ideas and innovation are required. One creative effort is required from the design of the motif that can characterize the uniqueness of batik produced, the production process that can accelerate batik production, the tools that can be used to accelerate motif design that the end result can produce a product that has a uniqueness and able to compete with other products.
The process of making batik is still a lot to do with classical way in which the processes of making batik for a piece of batik cloth from motif design, coloring, dyeing towax cleaning take a few days up to one month (depending on the complexity of motives), which cause high production costs on a single sheet of batik cloth. It that has implications on the price of Semarang Batik which is relatively more expensive compared with the price of batik in other more established areas.
Literature Review
Entrepreneurship Concept: According to Kruger, there are many definitions on entrepreneurship from a variety of perspectivesdue to the perspective and differences of interest between one institution and other institutions, and the differences among the academics. The definitions are:
- Entrepreneurship is an attempt to create value through recognition of business opportunities (Kao, 1991);
- Entrepreneurship is the creation of new organizations (Gartner, 1985);
- Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial psychological and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction. (Hisrich, 1985);
- Entreprenurship is the creation of an innovative economic organization for the purpose of gain or growth under conditions of risk and uncertainty. (Dollinger, 1995);
- Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership balanced. (Timmons, 1999).
- Entrepreneurship is the ability to utilize and transform opportunities into ideas that can be sold or marketed, adds added value by utilizing efforts, time, costs, or competence with the purpose of earn for money (Machfoedz, M., 2004).
After reviewing the various definitions mentioned above, it can be concluded that entrepreneurship is a process to create something innovative that can be used as a new business from existing opportunities for the purpose of profit. Entrepreneurship refers to pursuing creative or new solutions to the challenges faced by companies, including the development or improvement of products and services, administration techniques, and new technology to perform the functions of organization. Consensus in strategic management and the literaturesof entrepreneurship offers the three dimensions that underlie the tendency of organizations to the process of entrepreneurial management: innovation (which introduces new goods, services, or technology, and to develop new markets), risk taking (which makeslogical decisions when facing with the uncertainties of environment and systematically reducing risk factors) and proactive (whichsearches for new ways to bring the concept of entrepreneurship to results). According to Miller, an entrepreneurial company is "one of the moves in the market of innovation products, doing little risky business, and the first to come up with proactive innovation" (Kurgun, Hulya etal, 2011).
The Association between Marketing and Entrepreneurship: In the marketing literatured, there has been a clear trend of traditional marketing approaches discussed from the perspective of entrepreneurship and expressed their relations in marketing and entrepreneurship interfaces (Morris, M.H. and G.W., Paul, 1987). When examining the definition of marketing proposed by the American Marketing Association (AMA) in 2004 and 2007 respectively, it can be seen that marketing according to the American Marketing Association (AMA) is the fact that draw the attention that the association between marketing and entrepreneurship is gradually becoming more important. The definition made by the AMA in 2007 discusses marketing activities as providing long-term value by changing products and services rather than as a narrow consideration of short-term profits for the stakeholders or organization. Likewise, Miles and Darroch show that the process of entrepreneurial marketing increasesthe customer-focused marketing with the insight that companies must proactively seek opportunities to innovatively and efficiently create a superior proposition value to current and future customers and their stakeholders (Miles, MP and J. Darroch, 2006). "Entrepreneurial marketing" seems to be a concept that is has been difficult to grasp so far. The entrepreneurial marketing concept can be explained using the concepts of marketing and traditional words, but it can never be fully understood without the theoretical aspects of entrepreneurship and, therefore, they determine that the way to understand the subject considersentrepreneurial marketing as an interface between marketing and entrepreneurship. Morris et al confirmed that the interface examinationof entrepreneurial-marketing shows two main subject areas for investigation. The first can be referred to the role of marketing in entrepreneurship. The interface aspects related to the application of marketing, concept, and theory tools support new business creation and growth of small businesses. The second dimension of the interface can be called the entrepreneurial role in marketing. It is an exploration of the way in which the entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors can be applied to the development of marketing programs (Morris, et al, 2002). Collinson and Shaw (2001) suggested in their study that, "marketing" and "entrepreneurship" have three major areas of interface. Both subjects have the changes in the focus, opportunistic in nature, and innovative in their approachedfor management. Similarly, Carson et alconsider the main focus of interface as a change (Carson, et al., 1995)
Entrepreneurial Marketing:Kraus et al. proposed a new definition of entrepreneurship marketing: " Entrepreneurship Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering values to customers and managing customer relationships in the ways that benefit the organization and stakeholders, and it is characterized by innovation, proactive rsik taking, and possible without the current controlled resources. " Entrepreneurial Marketing refers to interactive marketing methods, which work closely with consumers and use the communication of word of mouth to find new customers. Entrepreneurial spirit makes someone easily formed into a formidable sales force, highly sensitive to the environmental development, and quickly capture it as an open market opportunity to create the products that will be offered in the market (Kraus, Sascha, et. All., 2009).
Entrepreneurial Marketing's definition is emphasizingto the adaptation of existing marketing techniques into the form suitable for small and medium scale enterprises and also in accordance with the important role of an entrepreneur to all marketing activities (Stokes, D., 2000). Because entrepreneurial marketing activity is an adjustment of marketing theories which are simplified to apply to small medium business scale companies, there are several stages of the activities that need to be considered in performing entrepreneurial marketing in which the stages mutually support one activity to another.
Research Methodology: This research was a descriptive and narrative research. The data used in this research were the primary data sourced directly from the respondents through questions/ questionnaires and the secondary data obtained indirectly. The secondary data supported the primary data. The secondary data in this research were the data owned by the companies, the data from the Regional Planning and Development (Bappeda) of Central Java, the Regional Planning and Development (Bappeda) of Semarang City, and the Department of Industry and Trade (Dinperindag) of Central Java Province.
Population and Sample: The research populations were the Batik craftsmen incorporated into the cluster of Semarang Batik, business groups, and self-help groups in the city and district of Semarang. Population is a group of individuals or objects of research with the qualities and characteristics that have been determined. The number of samples refers to the opinion of Sekaran (2006) that the sample size of greater than 30 and smaller than 500 in most of the study represented, and when the sample is divided into sub-samples, each category requires a minimum of 30 samples. This study used a sampling technique of non-probability sampling (the sampling by not providing equal opportunities to the members of population to be sampled) and purposive sampling in which the selection of the group of subjects was based on the specific characteristics or property considered to have a close relationship with the characteristics or properties of previously recognized population (Sekaran, 2006). The criterion used by the researchers was that the batik craftsmen have produced for more than 1 year.
Result and Discussion
Identification of respondents: The samples in this study wereSemarang Batik Craftsmen in the district of city of Semarang based on the advanced industry of Semarang Batik clusters classified at the stage of embryo/ beginner totaling 70 respondents. The number of the questionnaires distributed to Semarang Batik craftsmen was 120 questionnaires. The number of the questionnaires returned and completely filled was 70 sheets. Based on the data from the 70 questionnaires which were feasible to be processed, the information on sex, age, length of work, education, and home ownership status were obtained.
Here are the results of the identification of respondents presented in thetable of therespondents’ frequency distribution as follows:
Table1 Identification of Respondens
Characteristics of Respondents / Number / (%)- Gender
Female / 60 / 85,7
- Age
21 s/d 30 Year / 2 / 2,9
31 s/d 40 Year / 13 / 18,6
41 s/d 50 Year / 33 / 47,1
> 50 Year / 22 / 13,4
- Length Of Work
2 s/d 4 Year / 45 / 64,3
5 s/d 7 Year / 18 / 25,7
> 8 Year / 5 / 7,1
- Education
Senior High School / 47 / 67,1
Diploma / Bachelor / 8 / 11,4
PostGraduate / 8 / 11,4
- Home Status
Lease / 13 / 18,6
Parent/Family / 10 / 14,3
Contract / 1 / 1,4
Source: Processed Primary Data (2015)
Based on table 1, it can be concluded that the characteristics of the majority of respondents in this study were female of 60 people (85.7%) indicating that women as the pillar of family economy capable of playing the active rolesin batik business by their talents. It is also concluded that most of batik craftsmen and responsible for managing the business of Semarang Batik were women.
The ages of the respondents were mostly in the age range of 41-50 years by 33 respondents (47.1%), while the smallest number was in the ages of 21-30 years by 2 respondents (2.9%). The great number of the respondents aged 41-50 years was due to the golden age of a person in business. The more senior the person, the more experience, the more efficient, and the more effective the person in running the business. It is concluded that most responsible batik craftsmenand playing the important roles in in managing the business of Semarang Batik were the ones with senior high school education.
According to the category of last education, the most respondents had high school education by 47 people (67.1) and the lowest was the one with junior high school education by 10%. The great number of the respondents with high school was related to the view that the high school graduateswere considered sufficient to have the ability to continue family business or start a new business. It is concluded that most of batik craftsmen and responsible for managing the business of Semarang Batik mostly had thelast educational backgrounds of high school.
Based on the identifications, it can be seen that most of respondents had the home ownership status of owned house of 46 respondents (65.7%). This can be understood that by having a batik business with a relatively long period of work, the respondents were able to have their own house. It is concluded that most of batik craftsmen and responsible for managing the business of Semarang Batik mostly had the home ownership status of owned house.
Based on the research results of business identification aimed to determine the characteristics of Semarang Batik craftsmen by the forms of business organization, company’s legth of operation, exported products toother regions/ countries, type of business, product patents, how to get business are presented in Table 2 below:
Table 2. Identification of Respondent’sBusiness
Characteristics of Respondent’s Business / Number / (%)Form Of Business Organizaton / Individual / 68 / 97,1
CV / 2 / 2,9
Company’s Length of Operation / < 1 Year / 2 / 2,9
2 s/d 4 year / 45 / 64,3
5 s/d 7 year / 18 / 25,7
> 8 year / 5 / 7,1
exported products toother regions/ countries / No / 64 / 91,4
Yes / 6 / 8,6
Type Of Business / Manufaktur / 70 / 0
Retail / - / -
Service / - / -
Product Patent / No / 66 / 94,3
Yes / 4 / 5,7
How To get a Business / Establish Itself / 70 / 100
Family Inheritance / - / 0
Buy / - / 0
Number of employees / 0 / 20 / 28,6
1-3 / 35 / 50
4-6 / 8 / 11,4
7-9 / 6 / 8,6
>10 / 1 / 1,4
Source: Processed Primary Data (2015)